Sherry Flairty knew from the get-go, long before Bob Wilder ever thought about asking her to become his wife, that he had a dream of one day joining the Peace Corps. Thirteen months ago, at the age of 55, Bob took early retirement. A month later, he filed the first in a series of applications for the Peace Corps. Bob will be gone for 27 months -- three months for training, then 24 months in a mud hut without plumbing somewhere in Zambia. His assignment: Public health/HIV-AIDS.
Retiree heads to Africa as volunteer
By David Wecker
Post staff reporter
Sherry Flairty knew from the get-go, long before Bob Wilder ever thought about asking her to become his wife, that he had a dream of one day joining the Peace Corps.
"I thought, 'That's really admirable,'" she says.
"I also thought Bob would be 60 years old when he retired -- too old, probably, to still want to be in the Peace Corps."
Funny how these things shake out. When Bob was of an age when most people are thinking about joining the Peace Corps -- the median age for corps volunteers is 25 -- the Selective Service was running a lottery to decide which young Americans would be eligible for the draft and service in Vietnam.
Bob's number in the lottery was 186, which put him within draft range. Rather than wait for the Army to come calling, he enlisted in the Air Force and became a pilot. After the war, he flew for Delta.
Being an airline pilot stopped being fun after 9-11, Bob says. Thirteen months ago, at the age of 55, Bob took early retirement. A month later, he filed the first in a series of applications for the Peace Corps. By the way, only 6 percent of volunteers are 50 or older.
"I've been richly blessed," he told Sherry, who already knew as much. "It's time I paid something back."
Sherry wasn't surprised. They both have a pattern of giving back. She works as a volunteer with sexually abused children through the Family Nurturing Center of Kentucky. He's an EMT with the Fort Mitchell Fire Department and, for the past six years, has been a member of the Fort Mitchell City Council. He also is a volunteer tutor for the Urban Appalachian Council in Price Hill.
So, when Bob was accepted this past August for the Peace Corps, Sherry took pride in her husband's accomplishments.
"I say bravo. Bob is a wonderful, giving man who loves a challenge and adventure. I know God uses people in different ways. So I support him 100 percent."
It won't be easy. Bob will be gone for 27 months -- three months for training, then 24 months in a mud hut without plumbing somewhere in Zambia. His assignment: Public health/HIV-AIDS.
He's not quite sure what that means, but he's read that AIDS has all but eliminated a generation of Africans -- and that because of AIDS, the average life expectancy in Zambia in the past 10 years has fallen from 53 years of age to 35.
In a nut, the Peace Corps expects it volunteers to blend in with the communities they serve. The corps definitely does not want Bob to share his Christian values or American ways with them. The corps expects him to serve, to help, to work -- and to be willing to walk half an hour to get a drink of water. In return, the Corps will pay him $200 a month and issue him a bicycle.
"My biggest worry is malaria," Sherry says.
"Don't worry -- they're very strict about that," Bob tells his wife. "They give you pills, and they make sure you take them."
She tells me Bob is her best friend. She knows she'll miss him terribly. It's a long time. She wonders how his experience will change him. They heard of one older Peace Corps volunteer returning home after living in a third world country for a couple years, critical of his wife for all the material stuff she had in the house.
"We don't know how we'll stay in contact," Bob says. "Letters take four to six weeks, and there's no guarantee the mail even gets through. If I'm assigned somewhere near a city, I should be able to send e-mail.
"But I could be five hours from the nearest city. I won't know where I'm going until I've been in training for two and a half months."
Bob will learn to shake out his shoes each morning, you know, in case of scorpions. He plans to pack envelopes of tomato and carrot seeds. The Peace Corps is letting him take 80 pounds of luggage.
He'll get two days off each month. They're hoping that after a year, Sherry will be able to visit him in Victoria Falls. Until then, she's looking into volunteering with the Christian Appalachian Project in the mountains.
Bob leaves Jan. 23. Who was it that said Americans are stingy?
"All I'm doing is my part -- I'm not changing the world," Bob says.
I disagree. I think that, even if you're changing only a tiny slice of the world, it changes the whole.
Contact David Wecker at (513) 352-2791 or at sambets@choice.net.
